Are either of the moons of Mars large enough to eclipse the Sun as seen from the surface of Mars?

Paul Mancuso, Milpitas, California

Published: Sunday, August 01, 2004

Although both moons orbit Mars much closer than our own Moon orbits Earth, they also are very small: Phobos measures only 12 miles (19 kilometers) across and Deimos is half that. Their apparent sizes to an observer on the surface of Mars are 11' and 2', respectively. The Sun itself spans 21' on average, which means that neither moon is capable of blotting out the entire solar disk. So while these events are sometimes referred to as eclipses, they are technically transits.But that doesn't mean th...

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